Cover Image: She Died Famous

She Died Famous

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Member Reviews

Never read anything by this author until now. 4 stars! Fast paced. Good storyline. Very interested in more work by this author!

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This was almost a five star read for me!! A big thank you to the author, Kyle Rutkin for sending me a copy of his book and for being so kind.

Things I loved:

The writing: The writing was amazing. I was constantly turning pages and found myself only putting down the book when necessary. When I wasn’t reading the book, I was thinking about the book. I just had to know who killed Kelly Trozzo and why.

The Format: The story was told in blog posts, interviews and news articles. The writer kept me very much more engaged by formatting the book this way. I want to say it made the story and the characters more real to me in a way.

The Characters: The characters in this book were definitely flawed and realistic. Their flaws didn’t make me dislike them and sometimes that is hard to do.
Every character was very distinct and I could picture exactly who they were in my mind.
I wish I could sit here and go through every character individually but I don’t want to risk any spoilers for the book.

The End: I still continue to think about this book and it’s ending even though I’ve moved on to other books on my tbr.

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I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

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This was an interesting read as I opened it and was presented with a book that was written in different forms as it had blog posts, magazine articles, and interviews as well as police interrogation. It also had a book within a book situation going on as the lines between reality blurred with fiction and in the end, readers are left wondering what is happening and what is fact and what is fiction. The book also creates a narrative that leads the reader to discover the truth about what happened. She Died Famous starts with a blog post from author Kaleb Reed talking about how he is the prime suspect in the murder of Singer and Child Actress Kelly Trozzo and her manager Barry. The book then jumps back to Kelly tweeting about Kaleb's book Pay Me Back Alice and talks about their first meeting and how both their lives become intertwined. It was a crazy chaotic relationship, some called it a fairytale romance as Kaleb's book saved Kelly from her Rapunzel Tower, while others called it a trainwreck destined to fail. In places, this book did get a bit mucky but it is an insight into the world of Hollywood and the movement of child actors to stepping out as a new persona and becoming free from the strongholds of their parents, managers, and the business. Reading this book did make me think of some of the actresses/singers that have passed away young like Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, and Heath Ledger. The book does jump often between past and present timelines for the various characters which include Kaleb, Sara/Alice, Kelly and her friends co-star Lizzy and her assistant Jez. Despite this book being a crazy rollercoaster ride which we expect when we are presented with a world of drugs and alcohol and manic -there were also signs of Mental Illnesses and Alters in the book and it was a slower pace book, it was an interesting read for all thriller fans. It did also leave me thinking which is a question for you readers - what would your obituary say if you died? Would it say you deserved what you got or would it say you were an inspiration to all?
Find out all this and more in Kyle Rutkin's book "She Died Famous".

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This is the type of thriller that I couldn’t figure out what was going to happen in the end. Which makes it a well written thriller for me. Right down to the last page I had no idea how it was going to end.
This book was written in very unique way which I love. There was newspaper clippings, interviews and blog posts. I appreciated this so much, cuz it gave you a different reading experience.
I found the dream like drug scenes very hard to follow.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t a new favorite but it was entertaining.

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A dark & twisty novel. I found myself wondering “what??!!” More than once during my reading - both good and not so good. Fans of psychological thrillers and warped drug tales should definitely take this tale for a spin. Be prepared for a shocking finale that will probably leave you gasping “what?!” I can’t wait to see what else this author comes up with in the future!

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This booked will marketed as "A Star is Born meets Gone Girl." Rather than being a twisty psychological thriller like I hoped, it was full of unreliable narrators and overdone themes. I liked the way the author wrote, but the story fell flat for me. I also did not love how mental illness was treated in this book.

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Original idea and format. I loved the characters and the media's role within the story. Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of this book.

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I absolutely loved the writing style of this one. The way that the author paints this full picture of the media coverage and first hand accounts of what happened. This is such a unique story and I loved every minute of reading it!

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The layout was interesting, using blog posts, interviews, and newspaper articles to tell the story, but it did occasionally make it a little confusing, and difficult to keep track.
I didn't really connect with any of the characters either.

I'm sure loads of people will love this book, but personally, it wasn't for me.

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This is not what I expected ...in a good way! I decided to pick this book up because of the gorgeous cover (I mean.... look at it!😍). The writing style was very unique, it's told in blogposts, Newspaper articles, interviews, and police transcripts. Sometimes I felt like it's real, Kelly is real...and I'm actually reading a news report about a dead Hollywood it girl. I LOVED it !!!! Truly, such a good book and a unique story. Would definitely recommend for you to check this mystery out. The perfect read for October
4🌟 from me

trigger warning - mention of drug use

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Big old nope for me. Abusive stalker is just haunted by demons and is really a victim! Not a single likeable character. Despite being told as blog posts and police interviews and the like, nothing read like the medium it was supposed to be in - just a lazy framing device. Only finished it because it was for #netgalley.

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This book was labeled as a true crime on net galley, so I thought it would be non-fiction. It turns out it was a fictional story about a true crime writer and the death of an also fictitious person. While the plot was okay once I figured out what it was really supposed to be about, I feel it could have gone a lot deeper. I never got sucked in like I normally do with psychological thrillers

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It was tedious, friends. It's a shame that such a promising plot deteriorated into such gibberish.
Not recommended to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

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Awesome! Awesome! Awesome book! This book reached right out, grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go until the very end!

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I was really excited going intothis but was left so disappointed. It's a great concept. Poorly executed. I typically like dark books. This just seemed so scattered. By the end I feel like I should have had some of the pieces tied up neatly...they just didn't. Such a shame

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I was really excited to be approved for this book as I love Hollywood gossip type stories. Unfortunately this particular book was just not for me. I didn't care for the characters and I wasn't a huge fan of the way it was written. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This was a thriller with a plot line I hadn't read before. Chapters were laid out as blog posts, court documents, tabloid articles and interviews which made them feel quick and easy to read and kept me engaged. The different chapters were told in different perspectives and jumped around in time which was a little confusing at times but overall was easy enough to follow that it wasn't a drawback. Overall this was a book that sucked me in and kept me reading as I tried to figure out how it was all going to play out!

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This book slides back and forth between interviews, articles and reports of the present and the story that lead up to that point as told by Reed. While I expected the book to be a thriller, it is truly twisted and dark. There is so much emotional distress in this story and the amount of manipulation that Reed endures is pretty eye opening. You really don’t know what the plan is or how the pieces are being played until the end.

My issue with this book was really how the narrator used it’s unreliability to tell the story. I don’t necessarily want or care about having a clear picture when I read a story, but in this one, I didn’t even know who to root for. As a result, I ended up being detached from all the characters and not really caring about any of them.

This is quite a ride though, so fans of dark stories may really enjoy this book a lot.


You can see my video review here:
https://youtu.be/dIB2aZxyhiE

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3 Stars!

I absolutely fell in love with the premise of the story and the fun way of delivering the narrative with blog posts, a magazine interview, and a police interrogation.

The first half of the story was awesome. Kelly Trozzo, former child star turned musician, tweets about an unknown author and draws him into her world. I loved the rich people drama, it's one of my favorite topics to read about....unfortunately, this went too much into the drugs and the flashbacks and the Greek mythology theme that's woven throughout and Kelly's obsession with Andromeda. I found myself zoning out and not enjoying the story as much.

I look forward to seeing what else Kyle Rutkin comes out with next.

A special thank you to NetGalley, Greater Path LLC, and Kyle Rutkin for proving me with a reader copy.

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